CHAP. II. EUROPE AND GREEK COLONIES. 63 



precious metals, and especially in their chief 

 city. Exquisite gold and silver articles of every 

 form, drinking vessels of pure gold, seats and 

 tripods with silver feet, and especially valuable 

 ornaments in abundance, are to be seen there. 

 The columns and the colonnades are rich in gold, 

 and have capitals ornamented with silver carved 

 work. The fronts and doors of the houses are 

 decorated with golden ornaments, in which pre- 

 cious stones are set. Thus their houses are made 

 splendid with silver, gold, precious stones, and 

 ivory, and with whatever is most costly. The 

 people have enjoyed this good fortune from pri- 

 meval time, because they have been sufficiently 

 distant from such as are prompted by avarice 

 to enrich themselves at the expense of others." 



Whilst the sources of gold and silver in Egypt Europe, 

 had been either stopped or suspended by the bending 



n . , . . . also the co- 



toreign invasions or the domestic hostilities toioniesof 

 which that country had been exposed, the western 

 Greeks and their colonists began to produce 

 those and the other metals, though in much, 

 smaller portions. The inhabitants of Europe 

 continued in the savage state some ages after 

 the people of eastern Asia and of Egypt had 

 made considerable progress in civilized life. 

 Those of the south-east parts of Europe being 

 nearer to the more civilized countries of Egypt 

 and Asia, and receiving from them some refu- 

 gees who brought the arts and discoveries of 



